


Photographed Memories

by velociraptor52



Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-28
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-09 18:45:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velociraptor52/pseuds/velociraptor52
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A set of pictures mean different things to Rimmer and Lister.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Photographed Memories

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the land comm [tvrealm](http://tvrealm.livejournal.com/) over on Livejournal (I had to write fic based on [this picture](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v97/velociraptor52/AFVdO.jpg)). This fic is unbetaed so any mistakes are mine. The story takes place in season 2 after the episode Better Than Life. Spoilers for those who haven't seen the episode Better Than Life.

He found the pictures one day while going through a boxof junk in his room. Well, technically, it was Rimmer’s box of junk. Despite Rimmer insisting repeatedly that Lister should keep hold of all his items (“Just because I may be dead, Lister, does not mean you can go through my possessions willy-nilly and throw them out,” he had said, which actually gave Lister the idea to go through Rimmer’s possessions. Besides, he needed more room in the closet), Lister decided that enough was enough.

Rimmer was a hologram. He wouldn’t miss a shirt here or there. “He definitely wouldn’t miss this,” Lister remarked casually to himself as he found dirty underwear stashed in corner of the box in the closet. (Why it was in there, Lister had no idea.) “No way am I keeping this. If he wants it, he can have them.”

He didn’t realize how much stuff Rimmer owned, which was practically nothing. He knew Rimmer was skint, though Rimmer would kill himself before he ever admitted it. He had always put up the image that he had everything he could ever hope for, when in fact Lister had more junk than Rimmer had.

“Lister, could you possibly make any more racket in here? I can barely hear myself think, what with the Cat yowling away at his new yo-yo toy you gave him to…”

Lister heard the footsteps stop and he could only imagine Rimmer’s look of astonishment and surprise, mixed with non-too-subtle anger and exasperation. _I definitely do not want to miss that!_ Lister thought and stopped rifling through Rimmer’s box of possessions to turn around. “Hey, Rimmer,” he greeted quite jovially, straightening up from bending over the box.

“What…the…wha…what are you doing?” Rimmer finally asked.

Lister shrugged. He held a video cassette in one hand, and in the other he held a pair of Rimmer’s old socks. “Cleaning,” he said soberly then grinned, slightly impishly. “Think of it as spring cleaning.” He threw the pair of socks onto the floor, where he had thrown all the other useless objects he had found in the box.

“How do you even know its spring, you dolt? We’re in deep space, in case you forgot. It might as well be Christmas and you could be thinking it was Easter. And what’s more—why are you going through my possessions? I clearly and explicitly told you to leave those alone. I remember the conversation as if it had happened yesterday.”

Lister rolled his eyes. It had happened yesterday. “Easy, man, I’m just throwing things away you might not need anymore. Like these,” he said, motioning to pile of old clothes on the floor. “I mean unless you got some sentimental attachment or something to those things.”

Rimmer glanced briefly at the pile and then shook his head. “Fine, throw them away. But not that video—my mum gave it to me.”

Lister glanced at the title of the video. “An exercise video?” he asked in disbelief. “Really?”

“She gave it to me as a gift after I told her I had passed the first astro-navigation exam.”

“Which you didn’t. Oh, and what are these pictures anyway?” Lister asked as he took out the stack of pictures he had found buried at the bottom of the box.

Rimmer made a snatching motion at the pictures and then realized he couldn’t exactly grab them anymore. He was determined, however, to not appear crestfallen to Lister and so crossed his arms over his chest, pointing at the stack of pictures as he said authoritatively, “Those are mine, Lister.”

“I know that,” Lister replied irritably. “I mean what are they? Look, they look as if they’re pictures taken on Earth. What’s with this picture of a beach? And ice cream?” he asked, flipping through the stack of pictures.

“I’ll have you know, Lister, that those are pictures from the day my father took me to the beach.”

“Oh.”

It was only a couple days ago that Rimmer had learned of the death of his father. Sure, even he had admitted he knew his father was dead, seeing how he had received the letter three million years after the fact. Still, Lister knew that the subject still a sore topic to Rimmer. Lister inhaled deeply before asking, quite hesitantly, and quite nonchalantly, “You want me to hang them up on the wall?”

Rimmer was touched by Lister’s kind words, but he wouldn’t have any of it. He shook his head. “Just keep them in the box,” he said.

“You sure, man?”

Rimmer hesitated before nodding once. “And you can throw out my other things: my old clothes, the video, anything else you find, the pictures. You were right. I don’t need them anymore. It’s time to let go of the past. It’s just, you know, quite difficult for me.”

“Aw, man, Rimmer, I didn’t mean what I said earlier.”

Rimmer shook his head. “They’ll only remind me of the times I spent with my father. Put them back in the box. Throw them away, burn them, do whatever. I just...I don't want to see them again.” He sighed, appearing rather dejected despite the bravado in his tone of voice, and he left the room.

In the end Lister decided to keep the pictures. They reminded him of Earth and, though he knew that there was no chance that he would ever get back to Earth, it was nice to have something that reminded him of the planet he left behind. The only thing he didn't do was hang them up on the wall--he knew Rimmer wouldn't like that.


End file.
